Apr 14 2008
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Blogging the Mothman
Of the various Fortean cases that suggest a certain “crossover” angle between aspects of Ufology and Cryptozoology, perhaps the most famous one is that concerning Point Pleasant, West Virginia’s Mothman.
A dark, winged thing with glowing eyes that struck terror in the hearts of the people of the town back in the 60s, the Mothman manifested amid a torrent of other weird activity, including sightings of Flying Saucers; encounters with Men in Black; poltergeist activity and much more.
Such “winged-things” are very common within Forteana: Britain has the Owlman; along the Texas-Mexico border, reports surface with surprising regularity of strange winged monsters; the list goes on.
Yet, it is the Mothman that always takes center-stage. And, the beast’s notoriety is likely to increase as a result of some very welcome news: Fortean researcher Regan Lee has just set up a new blog: Mothman Flutterings, which is devoted to the beast and its activities.
As Regan says in one of her posts (titled Mothman on the Brain):
“Currently, I’m reading Colvin’s book Mothman’s Photographer II. He talks about a lot of things; one thing he writes about are the bird like and mothman like images he comes across, and the role they play in regards to messages and synchronicities. A couple of weeks ago, after reading that, I passed by a building I pass by a few times a week, and up ahead, I see what looked like the Mothman statue in Point Pleasant! As I drove closer to the thing, I saw that it was a large sculpture of a bird with its wings outstretched. It didn’t make much sense; the sculpture didn’t seem to have anything to do with the business it was in front of.
“Last night I had a dream about Mothman. He came to visit me. It was uncomfortable, almost scary, and yet, it wasn’t. He wasn’t scary, or had ill intent, but .. . there was a vague, scary feeling associated with his appearance. He had something to tell me. But, as usual with dreams, I forgot what it was. This wasn’t any earth shattering or even vivid dream, just interesting I have Mothman on the brain so much these days.”
There’s some good stuff at Regan’s new venture, and it’s one well worth checking out.
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April 14th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
You know, sometimes I envision Regan’s work station with AT LEAST 5 computer monitors.
At the very least
April 14th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
RPJ:
LOL, yeah Regan can definitely blog!
April 14th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Hey Nick — nice commentary. I was trying to remember this book and your blog triggered it. Professor David E. Jone’s “An Instinct for Dragons” — here’s part of the description:
“Jones (anthropology, Univ. of Central Florida) contends that the dragon, a universal image of a creature that does not exist, is a direct result of the evolutionary process. Guided by the tenets of biocultural anthropology, Jones postulates that the dragon is a construct of the three predators that most threatened humankind in its infancy: the raptor, the snake, and the large cat. Allowing for the “cultural and individual artistic lenses” of world societies, Jones demonstrates the incredible similarities in the appearance and behavior of dragons in the lore and legend surrounding them. He examines the political and economic patterns that led to the sighting of dragons and their defeat by cultural heroes.”
April 14th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Drew
You may also enjoy a book by a friend of mine in the UK names Richard Freeman. His book “Dragons: More Than a Myth?” addresses the many and varied theories for dragons - cultural myths, legends, lore and also the idea of links to unknown animals.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Makes some sense, I suppose, but I
liked ‘em better when they were just
Wyrms…
As for Mothman, I’ll have to give this blog a look. I cut my Fortean teeth on
Keel’s work ( “Strange Creatures From Time And Space” ) and while I still
respect the man and his work, James
Mosley’s remarks about him, and my
own critical nature, make me a little
more skeptical about some of the aspects
of the “Mothman Prophecies”…
April 16th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Ok guys this has taken almost 23 years to pluck up the courage to tell this story, I was around 10 years old and i lived with my parents in a cul-de-sac in the west end of Newcastle Upon Tyne in the North East of England.
It was summer probably around July August as the nights were hot and it stayed light until around 10pm, my dad had helped me build a ‘den’ in the little field at the entrance to the cul-de-sac and i was playing in it with a friend of mine a kid called David, my mum was at work in a bingo hall and my dad was at the pub, David lived across the road from me and his mum was watching me until mine returned home from work, anyway just after 10ish i needed to go you know what, i did’nt want to go to Davids incase his mum told us to stay in as it was getting dark so i went into an archway that seperated my house from our next door neighbours, these archways were used as access to the back gargens as the houses were terraced.
so there i was standing doing what i had to do when i heard footsteps at the end of the archway closer to the back gardens, i immediatly went quiet trying to hurry up as i thought it was our neighbour who i think would’nt be best pleased to catch me peeing against the side of his house, suddenly the whole archway entrance was blocked by a dark shape that stood on two legs like a man it was huge i mean thinking back i know i was only ten a small child, i’m 6ft 1inch now and it would still tower above me.
I was terrified, there was no sound it did’nt speak it did’nt shuffle it just stood there for what seemed like ages although it was probably only a few seconds, i remember i could make out no facial features and i could’nt tell where its shoulders ended and its head began i mean it just seemed to merge as if it had no neck, i also remember what i would describe as it’s eyes, massive i have heard other sightings of this thing and describe it’s eyes as glowing red, but this creatures eyes wer’nt red they were a shining white, almost as bright as torch light but not shing any been nothing was illuminated even though looking at it’s eyes you would think there would be.
I don’t know when i started but i realised i was sobbing, but it did’nt move and neither did i, i was fixed in place maybe with fear i don’t know but i could’nt move, then it came towards me almost running, i screamed and ducked sheilding my head with my arms i felt a warm knock on my arm but was too afraid to look, then i done something i still don’t know why to this day, i stood up and ran IN THE SAME DIRECTION as the creature, don’t ask me why but when i got out the archway i looked around almost hysterical with fear now and i saw the thing open a great pair of wings and take off over the houses and then it was gone.
I must have stood there watching the spot were it flew over the rooftops for a long time as David had now came to see where i was, i remember screaming about monsters and i need to see his mum to call mine, David ran up to his with me, when his mum saw me the look on her face she knew something really bad had happened, she called my mum and as we were waiting for her to come and get me Davids mum saw i was bleeding from my arm, she took me to get cleaned up and there was a slight cut on my upper arm although it was not a clean cut more jagged as if what ever done it was not razor sharp, when my mum came home i told her what had happened and even though she looked and listened i knew she thought what i had seen was just a bird or even a bat and had freaked, but looking back i know it was no bird or anything else ive seen before or since.
I have wanted to tell someone about this incident for years and now that i have wrote it all down i’m glad i did, i’m sorry it’s such a long post.
But, thanks for reading it.
Michael
April 16th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Hi Michael
Many thanks indeed for taking the time to relate this fascinating story - very interesting and appreciated!
There are quite a few similar reports/creatures from Britain: the Owlman of Cornwall; the Gargoyle of Glastonbury; a famous case involving a winged creature seen in Kent in 1963; a similar report from Wolverhampton in 2004; and several others.
In fact, most cultures have reports of such creatures (if they are flesh and blood animals).
You may be interested in a book written by a friend of mine named Jonathan Downes, called “The Owlman and Others,” which is all about these British winged-things.
Thanks again for sharing it - have you done any research to see if anyone else locally saw it?
April 16th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Thanks for the comments Nick but to be honest i hav’nt done any research at all to find out what it could have been or if anyone else had seen it, i was brought up in a very traditional way and if something was’nt seen, felt, or touched by a respected member of the community it simply did’nt exsist, even my mum after i told her said i should’nt say anything to my dad, the actual year would have been around 1983-84, i hav’nt seen any reports in the local press or heard reports in the media about anything local to Newcastle or the Northeast about such a creature, i’ll look up that book you mentioned, sounds interesting, Mothmen, Owlmen or what ever else they are called i do believe there maybe something to it although i also know i don’t ever want to get that close again.
April 16th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I’ll ask Jon Downes if he has any data on such reports from that period; although most of the Owlman reports were mid to late 70s.
That said, it’s very reminiscent of some of the more recent reports (such as the Wolverhampton one)
April 17th, 2008 at 7:14 am
That would be great if you could Nick, it would be better if there was something reported around the area at the time, i wish i had of looked into it further at the time although i was only 10ish at the time, i did’nt realise how popular these thing were until fairly recently, let me know if you hear anything my email is majesticuk@yahoo.co.uk.
thanks again
Mick
April 17th, 2008 at 10:29 am
That was really interesting Mick. Thanks for sharing.
One question: did you see its arms or something?
Oh! and during the experience did you notice a weird odor or noise, maybe a buzzing like bees or something?
April 17th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Thinking back i can’t recall any smell at all, and i did’nt see any arms it was just like a dark shape not black but almost black, when i saw it take off and fly it seemed to unfold it’s wings as if they were hugging the thing i also remember it was huge the archway must have been about 8 1/2 feet high maybe 9 feet and the top of it’s i’ll say head even though it’s head seemed to merge into it’s shoulders was almost touching the roof of the arch, i also remember it made a shuffling noise as it passed me not like a clump of shoes more like slippers were on it’s feet, but that’s about it.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
All right. Thank you so much